The Motorcycle Industry in New York State : A Concise Encyclopedia of Inventors, Builders, and Manufacturers (New York State Museum Memoir #27) (New York State Museum Memoir, Number 27)

The product of nine-years' research by New York State Museum curator Geoffrey N. Stein, The Motorcycle Industry in New York State is the first book to focus on the over one-hundred year history of motorcycle construction in the Empire State. Here you'll encounter the work of Glenn Curtiss, George and Percy Pierce, William Schack, John Glas, Edwin Thomas, Willis Ives, Carl Neracher, Leigh Evans and John Taylor among hundreds of other dreamers, designers and developers. You'll encounter the Emblem, Neracar, Monarch, Reliance, Yankee, DeLong, Marvel, Militaire and Rugmobile among other ordinary and extraordinary motorcycles.

And here you'll learn the mostly short but sometimes extended histories of such concerns as the Autoped Company of America, the Kiefler Motor Works and the Merkel Motor Wheel Company.

Beginning with the experimental motorized bicycles of the 1890s, the encyclopedia records as well, the golden years for the development of mass-produced motorcycles in the 1900s and 1910s. The work recounts the decline of the industry as the public adopted the automobile for everyday transportation. And it reports the recent renaissance of construction as a cottage industry, producing custom motor-cycles in small shops from Long Island to Grand Island.